Ohio State is just a week and a half away from hosting Tennessee in the first round of the college football playoffs, but one of their best assistant coaches has an eye on one of the top head coaching jobs on the market.
Two weeks ago, West Virginia fired head coach Neal Brown after going 6-6, and now the Mountaineers are in a position to find their new head coach; there were rumors that Penn State’s offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki was the favorite for the job, but on Monday reports dropped that he would be staying in Happy Valley for the 2025 season.
Now, West Virginia has to turn its attention to other coaching candidates. On Wednesday, Chris Anderson from West Virginia 247sports reported that Ohio State’s wide receiver coach/ Co offensive coordinator Brian Hartline has interviewed for the job.
Hartline is a former Buckeye wide receiver who spent seven years in the NFL before returning to Ohio State in 2017 as a coach and has been there ever since, working under both Urban Meyer and Ryan Day.
The 38-year-old coach has made himself one of the best in the sport regarding coaching receivers, and college football programs are hoping he could bring the same success to their schools, but will he ever want to leave Ohio State?
This might be the best time for Hartline to get out of Columbus since who knows what will happen with Ryan Day this off-season, and if he gets fired or leaves, there is a good chance every coach on his staff also heads out of town.
Hartline will not be in any position to get the Buckeyes head coaching job, so maybe he wants to be a head coach somewhere, and West Virginia wouldn’t be a bad place to start.
The Big 12 isn’t as hard as the SEC or Big Ten, and if he can have the same success in recruiting as he had at Ohio State, then West Virginia could be a serious team to win the conference down the road.
Hartline has flirted with other jobs before, so there is a chance he was taking an interview to see what it’s all about and will return to Ohio State. Still, if he is serious now, there is a good chance the Buckeyes will need to find a new wide receiver coach for the 2025 season.
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